In one form of construction of a tent or other temporary shelter, flexible poles are inserted into one or more locating sleeves formed along at least two diameters of a generally dome shaped shell of the tent wall fabric so that the poles extend from the apex of the dome to slightly beyond the periphery of the wall of the tent. The tent is erected by laying the fabric out flat and inserting a pole into the appropriate sleeve or sleeves so that the pole extends diametrically across the laid out fabric. Second and subsequent poles are inserted into other sleeves to form a radiating series of poles crossing at the apex of the tent. The foot of one pole is then inserted into a pocket formed at or adjacent the periphery of the wall at that diameter. The other end of that pole is inserted into a pocket located at or adjacent the periphery of the wall at a position diametrically opposed to the first pocket. Since the length of the diameter across the tent fabric is less than that of the pole, this causes the pole to bow and tension the fabric of the tent wall along that diameter. This operation is repeated with the other poles to give a semi-rigid, stable, dome-like structure in which the fabric of the tent wall is held taut by the bowed poles without the need for any internal struts or supports.
Such tents are in theory simple to produce and erect and find widespread use. They can be produced in a number of different forms and sizes for different end uses; for example as a single man tent to provide cover for beach fishermen or bird watchers, as larger polygonal shaped tents to house several people, or as small units to serve as cloches for the growing of plants. For convenience, the term dome tent will be used herein to denote in general structures which comprise a flexible wall member which is tensioned by bowing a series of radially arranged pole members supporting the wall fabric. Such a tent employing a tensioning arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,178 issued Oct. 30, 1990 to Eichhorn.
However, such dome tents suffer from the problem that they are assembled from a number of component parts and can be difficult to erect single-handedly since it is necessary to insert opposed ends of the poles into the pockets and at the same time to lift the poles so that they adopt their bowed configuration. Furthermore, even when two or more people work together in erecting such a tent, difficulties are still encountered in that once the first pole has been bowed, a structure is formed which can be caught by the wind before further poles can be put in position and the erected tent secured to the ground.
We have now devised a method for splaying the poles in a dome tent which reduces the above problems and which provides a structure which can be rapidly and simply erected single-handedly.